Package and supporting tag for fuse plugs



July 22, 1952 B. w. ROCKEY ETAL PACKAGE AND SUPPORTING TAG FOR FUSE PLUGS Filed July 21, 1949 Patented July 22, 1952 Benjamin W. Rockey, Overland Park, Kans., and

Edward L. Salmon, Kansas City, M0.

. Application. July, 21, 1949, Serial No. 105,962

This invention has to do broadly with the field of merchandising and advertising, the primary object being to provide a novel package for a plurality of separate articles of manufacture so formed as to not only hold, the. articles in place until such time as removalthereof is desired, but to display" the individual' articles themselves to the prospective customer while the package remains in a wrapped condition and to permit utilization of the package itself when open as a means for hanging the articles in a convenient location adjacent a point of use.

It is the most importantobject of the present invention to provide a combination package and supporting tag for electric fuses of the screw-in typ commonly employed in the home,the pack- 'age' itself constituting an initially flat, polygonal, foldable panel having a plurality of openings'in 'one pc'irtionthereof for frictionally receiving the "fuses themselves. I

fAno'ther'object of the present invention is to provide a package for fuses as above set'forth wherein another portion" of the plate panel is foldable into overlying contacting relationship to one 'end of the fuses when the latter are within 'the openings therefor. l A further object of the present invention is to provide 'a flap at one end "of the panel, a portion of which'serves as a side wall of the package and another portion thereof constitutes a locking meniberengageable' with certain of the fuses to prevent accidental opening of the package. A further object of the present invention lies in theway in which a tying member is affixed to the flap of the packagepermitting hanging of the entire'package in an open extended condition with the fuses thereof readily accessible at a fuse box where the fuses are to be used. T

Otherobjects will be made clear or become apparent as the'following specification progresses, reference being had to the accompanying drawing. wherein: 1

Fig. 1 is a 'top plan view'of a package and supporting tag for fuse plugs made in accordance with our'present invention.

' Fig. 2 i s a transverse, cross-sectional view taken on line IIII of Fig. l'looking in the direction of'the arrows. a 1

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the panel from which the package is made showing the outermost faces of the top and bottom walls thereof; and

Fig. 4 is an edge elevational view of the panel shown in Fig. 3.

It is common knowledg that fuses for the home are commonly purchased fromretailers in Fsuitable cardboard partition structure. 'house-holderusually has no convenient spot near 1 Claim. (Cl. 206'4 5.19)

ordinary boxes with the fuses themselves either loosely disposed in the box or held in place by The the fuse b ox'for placing the box of fuses until ready for use and consequently, when replacement becomes'necessary, a long and aggravating search is nec'essaryto find anew fuse. Furthermore; the boxes are not adapted to'give full instructions as to use of the fuse and surprisingly enough, many home owners actually do not understand the principle of changing fuses.

As will hereinafter appear therefore, the package for screw-in type fuses forming the subject matter hereof, is adapted not only to convenient- 1y display the fuses-themselves in the retail store but is usable by opening the same into a fully extended condition asa tag to support the fuses then iselves'ad-jacent the fuse box by merely hanging thesame on or near the fuse box.

In Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawing, an initially flat panel that ismade from'cardboard plastic or other suitable bendable" materiaLis broadly designated'by-the numeral l0; Blank or panel In is polygonal and in theform illustrated is elongated and therefore, rectangular.

A pair of'transverse, parallel lines offold l2 and I4 are formed in the panel [0 intermediate the ends thereof setting off anelongatedstrip "[6 extending entirely across the panel I 0 and '22 next-adjacent the proximal end of panel ill and parallel with the lines of fold I2 and I l.

The strip 24 between line of bend22' and the proximal end of panel l0,'comprises an inner side wall of the finished package. The top wall portion 20 isprovided with a plurality of circular openings 26 for frictionally receiving screw-in type fuses 2 8,taking the form of that shown in Figs. 2 and 4. Sinceit is desired that the peripheral edge of openings 26 "co'ntact'the sides of the fuse'28 'to holdthe same against displacement, a pair of diametrically opposed slits 30 are formed in the top wall portion 20 extending radially outwardly from each opening ZS respectively. Actually, the diameter of the opening 26 is slightly less than the full diameter-of threaded portion 32' of plug 28 and consequently, as plug 28 is forced into the opening. 26 as illustop wall portion 20, will yield. v 4 A transverse line of bend 34, spacedjnwardly Wall portion 20 next adjacent the line of bend It is seen that when the locking member 40 is thus bent, the semi-circular notches 44 will be in alignment with substantially half of the two openings 26 adjacent line of bend 22.

Inasmuch as the fluted head portion 52 of' 'fuses'2-B "are of a greater diameter than the "threaded portions 32 'thereof,-.such head 52 will from that end of the panel I0 oppositetotheff strip 24, is in parallelism with the lines'of 'fold' I2 and. I4 and the line of bend 22-andthe bottom wall portion I8 is defined by thezspace'between overlap the top wall portion next adjacent and i circumscribe the openings 26. Consequently, the locking member 40 will underlie the heads 52 of Ltheztwo proximal fuses 28. These heads 52 will accordingly hold the locking member 40 against line of fold I2 and line of bend34. .That pore tion of the panel II] between line-of "bend 34 and the proximal end of panel I0 constitutesia flap broadly designated by the numeral 36.

Flap 36 is in turn sub-divided intoanouter side wall strip '38 and a locking member Why a transverse line of bend'42 substantially. midway between line of bend 34 and the proximalend of panel I0. Thewidths of the strips -24 andfiBv are approximately the same. The locking meniber 40 offlaphas a Pairpfsubstantially semicircular notches'44formedtherein and extending inwardly from the-proximal end ofpanel lll. Thesenotches 44-are spaced apart a'distance substantially the. same as the. distance between the two openings '26 =nextadjacent thelineof vbend.- i j .An.elongated tying member 46 "that may comprise an ordinary-ty n corcLhas one end-thereof afiixeddirectly to :theflap-36- and particularly -to the outer side wallstrip-fifi-midway-between the ends of-the latter bya TQ met lB; I The complete-package -shown-in=1 figs.;;.

and broadly designated by; the numeralQSO, is;

formed in the following manner. j Fuses 28 are first, placed withinqtheir; respective openings 26 in top wall IpOrtion 20 of panel I0 with the threaded ends 32-thereof projecting vbeyond the'inside face*of;top wall; portion 20 asshown in Fig. 4. The operatorthereupon-bends the panel Ill-on linesof fold I2 and I4 to dis- ;pose the bottom-wall portion -I-8 of panel Illin substantially parallel relationship to thetop wall portion and acrossthe, ends of the-fuses 28 and adjacentthreaded portionsl32.

' Fig. 2 ofthe drawing. shows the way. in-which the innermost face of the bottom wall portion '18 contacts theproximal terminal ends of the fuses 28 when the panel I0 isbent on'lines of fold I2 and I4. It'is seen that the width of-thesid'e wall strip-I5 issubstantially the sameas, the distance between the terminal-ends'of the fuses I2 and the'innermost-faceof top wall portion 20. The operator'thereupon folds the inner side strip 24. on the line of bend 22 in the same direction as the side 'wall strip-I=5 to place stripv24 'in'parallelism with strip I5. Flap 35 is thereupon folded upon the line of bend-34 laterally with respect to bottom wall portion I83 and 'perpendicular thereto. Wh'en fiap 36 is thus bent, it willoverlap the inner side wall -strip'24 and .the strip 38being substantially identicalwith the strip 24, will; bein complementary juxtaposed.

overlapped relationship to the inner side. wall strip24.'- v 1 I 4 Finally, the locking member Ailoflflap r3655 .folded on the line of bend 42 perpendicular tothe strip 38 and in overlapping relationship with respect to a portion of the outermost face of top .the tendencyato return to the parallel condition 'with r'e'spectTto strip 38 and also hold the locking memberllfi flatly against the outermost face of the'top wall portion 20.

It is appreciated that the width of the locking member could be in- TShOW'IliIl' Figs. 1' and 2-. .The way in which the strips creased if desired and that the notches 44 could bemadesubstantially deeper to the. end that two of the fuses 2 8- would-hold the-packa-ge-rEIl in the condition shown in Figs. 1;and 2. However, since it is desired that the device-be used aszafuse supporting; tag, tie member 46 is provided, the same beingyof suificient length to 'extend from the grommet 4-8, across the top wall portion;20,.as shown in-F 'ig. Land thence acrossthe outermost 'face of strip lfifthe outermostface of bottom wallportion I8 and back to vthe grommet 48 for coiling thereabout. The tie member rand-the locking member 40 therefore, cooperate in=ho1ding the-package '50 ;in:-theassembled condition I6, and stare made of'aparticular width to dispose the bottom wall portion I8 contacting relationship with the proximal ends. of fuses 28,. is of: extremeriin- ;portance. The," package therefore, becomes self supporting and when a plurality-.oflsuch pack-- ages 50 are stacked insuperimposed relationship,

--the'"package 50 will-notibecrushed by the weight of the overlying packages. Inasmuch as the heads 52 of all-of the fuses 28 are exposed to view when the package50 is assembled, the "same-is easily merchandised and :when 'placedon dis play, the: prospective customer immediately sees thearticle to-be purchased. This is particularly advantageous, in the item herein involved =-be- "cause of the factthat it isdesirable to attract a customers attention'to the fuses since invariably, new fuses-are not on hand when needed. 7

After purchase of thefpackage'Sfl of ifuses28,

the purchaser untiesthe .cord. 46,, thereby fper- 'mitting the-.pa'ckageBU, to open to the fully extendedcondition shown in Figs. 3'and-4. The tying "member 46 provides a Iconvenientpand simple means of attaching the entire tag to a nail or the like at an easily accessiblelocation adjacent the fuse box itself. When it;.becomes necessary to replace fuses, the home i'ownercan easily and quickly pull one of the fuses-28 from its locked position-within an opening 26.

his also noted that :both faces of the panel Ii] are available for whatever advertising material as well as instructions that the manufacturer 'desiresto use. complete set of directions is extremelydesirable vand such .might well be placed upon the innermost face of the panel I 0 outlining exactly why fuses aren-eeded, how toreplace the same and thecautionary" steps that should be-Itaken in the replacing operation. Similarly, the outermost face of the panel I 6- can be filled completely With'such'advertising as may be desired.

As above indicated, a

The entire item is highly desirable from the standpoint of the manufacturer as well as the retailer, because of the fact that purchasers will select the same over other packaging means for fuses not only because of the fact that the appearance thereof attracts the attention of the purchaser, but because the purchaser will soon become aware of the fact that complete directions are included and further, that the package is readily extended to a fuse-supporting tag that can be fastened at a convenient location adjacent a fuse box.

It is notable that the item. is extremely inexpensive to manufacture since only the essential elements are included and inasmuch as the ends of the package 50 are open and further because of the fact that the over-all thickness of the package 50 is reduced by the particular manner of positioning fuses 28, little material is needed.

While only one modification of our present invention has been illustrated and described, it is apparent that many changes and modifications .might be made and, therefore, those that fairly come within the spirit of this invention as defined by the scope of the appended claim, are contemplated hereby.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to be secured by Letters Patent is:

A package comprising a box having a bottom wall portion, a top wall portion, and a pair 01' opposed side wall portions, there being a Pinrality of openings formed in said top wall portion; an electric fuse plug extending into each of said openings respectively, each plug having external threads frictionally engaging said top wall portion at the respective opening, an an:- nular, external flange exteriorly of the box, and a metallic contact member engaging the inner face of the bottom wall portion; and a locking member on one of said side wall portions and overlapping said top wall, said locking member having a notch formed therein for receiving a proximal plug between the flange thereof and the top wall.

BENJAMIN W. ROCKEY.

EDWARD L. SALMON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,691,781 Meyer Nov. 13, 1928 1,884,445 Wever Oct. 25, 1932 1,959,665 Gallinger May 22, 1934 2,037,839 Wagenseller Apr. 21, 1936 

